Source-based health education. Sources read 14 October 2026. No individual medical advice or claim of clinical review.
Do not merge the dates
A page can show a publication date, a later review date and a date on which you opened it. These answer different questions. NCCIH’s currency-checking guidance gives readers a reason to examine dates; the practical record should retain the label beside each date rather than reduce everything to a single updated entry.
Keep a reproducible note
Copy the article title and exact URL, then record the dates explicitly displayed in its content. Put your access date in a separate field. A footer date may describe the whole website, while a search-result date may have another origin. If the article itself gives no review date, leave that field unknown. Opening an old page today does not make its underlying advice newly reviewed.
Compare the relevant version
When returning to a page, compare the passage important to your question, not just its date stamp. A spelling correction and a changed clinical recommendation have different significance. Save a short contextual note about what changed without copying an entire article. For decisions involving care, verify the current applicable guidance with an appropriate professional; this date record is a documentation tool, not a currency guarantee.
Keep a small version-change log
When revisiting the same URL, record the passage that matters to your question and whether it is unchanged, substantively changed or no longer available. Keep the access date separate from any date printed by the publisher. Do not infer a clinical review merely because the page footer or copyright year changed.
For an archived news report, preserve the event date and describe it as a report of that event. For an explanatory fact sheet, inspect its own review label. A useful change note identifies what changed, such as the stated population or linked guidance, without asserting that the new version is applicable to a reader. A reading log documents versions; it does not certify currency.
Source and scope: Original public-agency guidance, read 14 October 2026. United States public-agency education. Practical worksheets and reading methods above are editorial interpretation, not a tested clinical tool.
Explore Health Information & Evidence and the related topic hub.
Leave a Reply